He's Not All Bad Like His Reputation
by kingfalchuk
Summary: He's sitting opposite her, across the pool. He starts smirking at her every time he catches her eye. She secretly admires the way his hair sticks up when it's wet as she takes in the board shorts and the white shirt he's wearing. Au college Finchel.


**A/N: **Okay, so I got this idea and I ran with it. I love college Finchel. It's a one shot, and i'm fairly confident that's all it's going to be. The title comes from the song _Superman_ by Taylor Swift. Oh, and I don't own Glee, unfortunately.

* * *

The first time really notices him she's sitting in the coffee house across the road from her apartment. She tries to focus on her conversation with her best friend, Santana, but she can't help but watch him. He comes in and joins the queue. She's seen him before, she knows that they attend the same college and he's about the same age as her. He's one of those popular football jocks, probably rude and arrogant like the rest of them. She'd never spoken to him before, though she wasn't exactly the type of person who spoke with the popular guys at college. She was a theatre nerd.

She realises she's staring when he turns to glance at her. He turns quickly away, as soon as he realises that she's looking at him. It's all a bit fast, but she sees the smile on his face before he focuses on the line again.

* * *

She really wishes he'd stop appearing randomly in her day. She seems him again, this time while she's at the pool with Santana and a few of Santana's friends. She doesn't really like them, but Santana whined on how she never gets out of the house anymore, so she gave in. He's sitting opposite her, across the pool. He starts smirking at her every time he catches her eye. She secretly admires the way his hair sticks up when it's wet as she takes in the board shorts and the white shirt he's wearing.

She wishes she wore more than her skimpy bikini today.

* * *

She sees him more and more around campus since that day in the coffee house and she wonders if he moved into the dorms the college supplied. Probably. All the jocks lived there. She didn't though. She managed to get a small apartment at the start of the school year. She shares it with Santana, and it's only a few minutes drive from campus. It's not much, but she liked that she didn't have to live with all of the disgusting people she went to school with.

She's in a rush when it happens. The most embarrassing moment of her life. So far anyway. She's running to her theatre class, the only one she really enjoys. And when she rounds the corner she hits someone, causing her to fall back onto the ground.

She looks up and sure enough, he's the jock from the coffee house. Why did it have to be him? She can feel her face getting hot so she looks down again. He doesn't seem to be doing anything, perhaps he's in shock or something? She finally gathers all her things up before quickly walking away, muttering "sorry" as she passed him. She hears him mutter something back, but she's too far away to hear what he really said. She doesn't stop until she gets to class.

* * *

When she thinks about it, he's in the coffee house all the time. It's like he's waiting for her to show up or something. So naturally, she starts avoiding it. She goes to the one closer to campus, it's not as good, but it will do until she knows if he's still going there or not. She'll get Santana to check.

It's like her worst nightmare when he shows up outside her theatre class. She stayed back after class, so she knows he's waiting for her. She can't help but notice how attractive he looks in his dark jeans and v neck shirt as he's leaning up against the brick wall. But she shouldn't be thinking about him like that, even if she is wildly attracted to him. He's a jock, remember?

She looks down, hoping that if she doesn't look at him then he won't realise she is there. But he does. He follows her down the corridor for a few steps.

"Hey." he offers.

"Hi." She says almost silently.

"May I carry your bag?" She's wondering what he's up to.

But she doesn't respond, instead she resists the urge to roll her eyes as she picks up the pace a little, forcing him to jog to catch up.

"It's fine." He continues. "Some other time maybe."

It's like he's telling her rather than asking her. She wishes that she was nicer to him. He wasn't a mean jock like the rest of the football players, and she'd definitely treated him like he was one.

She opens her mouth to apologize to him again, but she realises that he's gone. Looking behind her she's quick enough to see him turning the corner. She feels stupid. Sure, she likes this guy, and he obviously likes her too, so why was she so scared of being alone with him?

* * *

Santana tells her that he's no longer going to the coffee house across the road, and she can't help but wonder if she's done something wrong. Although she never would admit it out loud, she misses seeing him around. It was like he was there to protect her, even though he had no reason to. She felt safe with him there.

Part of her wants to find him and just sit down, you know, talk for a while. But she hasn't seen him in a few weeks now. So she makes a mental note to talk to him next time she sees him. For a second she wonders if she should look at the football fields for him, but she wouldn't even know how to get there. The other part of her thinks she's stupid for thinking like this about a guy she's never really spoken to.

She's curled up on the couch watching Funny Girl for the third time that week when Santana gets home.

She rolls her eyes as she hangs up her coat. "Again Rachel?"

Rachel just nods. She's been so lonely lately since Santana has been spending more time out and she doesn't want to argue with her right now. Funny Girl seems to be the only thing to make her happy these days.

* * *

She finally sees him again. This time she's in the library, her head buried in a book as she hears the doors open. She looks up and he's there, but he doesn't notice her as he walks through the many shelves. And when he turns in her direction she quickly buries her face in her book again, but that doesn't stop the crimson shade appearing on her face. She sees him smile as he walks into the next row.

Next thing she knows and she's on her feet, walking in the same direction as him. He's two rows over, eyes darting over the spines of the books, like he's after one book in particular.

"I'm sorry." She says quietly, causing him to look towards her. Though she's not really sure what she's apologizing for. "You're not a mean jock like the rest of them. And i'm sorry for treating you like them."

He nods. "I'm sorry too." He says after a few minutes.

She's about to say that he doesn't need to apologize as her phone rings. It's Santana informing Rachel that there's a huge crisis at the apartment. She doesn't want to leave, but she knows that Santana will call the police or something if she doesn't go.

"I have to go." She says, reluctantly.

He nods again, but doesn't speak right away. She turns to leave as she hears him again.

"Can I see you again?" It takes her a few seconds to register what he's saying.

"Oh, i'm sure you will." She replies, and she can't hold back her smile. He returns the smile before she makes her way across the door, leaving him there in the library.

* * *

"I want you to move out." Santana says. Rachel's wondering if she's actually serious. She doesn't say anything so Santana continues. "I've found a new roommate."

Okay, so it isn't exactly a crisis. More like the ending of Rachel's life. She hopes she heard Santana wrong, but after a few minutes she realises that wasn't the case. Where was Rachel going to go?

She sees a man emerge from Santana's bedroom, nothing but a towel covering his lower half and she secretly hopes that it's not that man who is replacing her.

"Him?" It's the only thing Rachel can manage to choke out.

"Yes, _him_." Santana says, mocking Rachel's tone. "His name is Puck."

Rachel almost snorts when she says that. It's the most stupid name she's ever heard. 'Puck' nods his head in acknowledgement towards her. Rachel wants to vomit.

"I'll give you a few days to clear out your things Rachel." Santana continued. "I hope you can find another place." She adds that last past bitterly, as if she'd been wanting to kick Rachel our for a while now.

Rachel turns and walks out of the door. She doesn't let them see her as the hot tears fall down her cheeks. A real 'friend' would never do that.

When Rachel makes it outside it's grey and raining, the weather somehow mimicking her mood. She runs to her car, opening her door. She sits there for a few minutes as she cries more, letting the tears fall freely now. She has no idea what she is going to do. But she's got to get away from Santana. So she starts her car, making her way to the only other place she can go.

* * *

A few minutes later and she's pulling up at college. She's not sure how she managed to get there, the tears fogging her vision. For a second she wonders if living out of her car would be the worst thing in the world. It would be.

She wipes away her tears, checking to make sure her face isn't as red as she imagines. She clutches her jacket around her more as she steps out into the pouring rain. It's now late afternoon and Rachel hope that most of the students are gone now.

She doesn't exactly hurry to get out of the rain, but soon finds herself sitting against a brick wall. She's outside the theatre department, under the shelter now, raindrops still splashing around her feet. How long will it be before someone sees her and tells her to leave?

She shuts her eyes, thinking about everything. Santana had been acting cold towards her lately. She should have seen it sooner, but instead, she's sitting here, with not one person to call her friend.

In the distance she hears a car door slam, and she'd run the other way if it was Santana. But it's not, she can hear the footsteps now and they clearly don't belong to Santana. She's probably getting naked with Puck by now anyway. When the footsteps round the corner, they stop, seeing her there was probably not what they expected. She's about to get up to leave when the footsteps stop next to her and the person they belong to lowers themselves to sit next to her.

Her eyes are still shut, and she doesn't want to open them. But she does, slowly, half expecting one of the creepy professors to be sitting with her. But it's the last person she expects. It's him. The guy from the coffee house, the guy she'd spoken to in the library only this morning, the guy who she treated like a mean jock, even though he wasn't.

He's looking out into the rain, oblivious to the fact that she's looking at him.

"Hi." She breathes out, voice shaky from crying.

"Hey." He says, still looking forward.

She can feel his arm brushing against hers as they sit in silence for a few moments before he speaks again.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" He asks, worried about her reaction.

She shakes her head slowly. She doesn't even know his name, she's not about to tell him about everything that just happened with Santana.

"It's okay." He says as he slips an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into the side of his body. She can't hold it in anymore, so she starts sobbing quietly again, letting her tears wet patches of his shirt. He doesn't seem to care though, he just wraps his other arm around her, pulling her even closer. He'll sit here forever if she wanted.

After a while of sobbing, she manages to fall asleep with this stranger. It's weird because they've never really spoken, but she trusts him with her life.

* * *

She wakes up an hour later, the rain still falling as the light faded. She was still in the arms of the stranger, he released her slowly when he felt her stirring.

So she sat up, her hair curling around her face from the rain. She managed a smile. "Thank you." She whispered.

He smiled back. "It's alright." He says. "It's what friends do, right?"

She nods. She knows that he means it and that in this moment, he just might be the only friend she has. Relaxing back against the brick wall she can feel her muscles hurting. She winces slightly at the pain before looking to him again.

"I – I was," she lets go of the breath she didn't even know she was holding. "I was kicked out of my apartment." She says it slowly.

He doesn't say anything, so she continues. "My roommate told me she's found someone else to share a house with." A tear falls down her face. "She says I have a few days to clear out all my things."

He reaches and takes her hand. "I – I didn't know where to go." She wipes her eyes. "I just ended up h-here."

He nods like he understands exactly what she's going through, and for a minute she's wondering if he's ever gone through something similar.

"I'm Finn." He finally speaks again.

"Rachel." She replies.

He stands up suddenly, holding out his hand for her.

"Come with me." He says as she grabs his hand, trying to ignore the feeling it gave her.

He turned and walked back the way he came, she followed closely behind.

"Finn, where are we going?" She asked as he turned to look at her.

"I'm not letting you stay here Rachel." He didn't miss a beat.

When they got to the front of the school they stopped, the rain still falling heavily from the sky. He turned to her as she looked out into the parking lot, the only two cars there belonged to them.

"We're going to go to my car, okay?" He asked, taking her hand.

"Okay." She nodded.

"Then i'll talk more when we're out of the rain."

Then he ran off, his hand still in hers. She had to run a bit faster than she was used to, so she could keep up with him. He unlocked his car from a distance, opening her door for her, waiting until she was inside before crossing over to the other side of the car and slipping in himself.

"You'll be staying with me." He said, turning to face her. It was more of a 'you are' not 'you can if you want'.

She just nodded. It was getting late and she certainly wasn't going back to Santana now. She was honestly scared about how safe she felt with Finn, but she knew it was for the best, otherwise she'd be spending the night in her car, freezing from the rain.

Finn started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

She was right, he did live in the dorms on campus. They slipped inside the room as fast as they could trying to avoid the rain. Although it didn't work, they both stood there, soaking from the short run from his car to the door and Rachel couldn't help but laugh.

"That didn't work." She kept laughing.

He joined in with her. "Not at all." He said, pulling her towards him, this time he rested his head on hers as she placed her arms around his large body.

"I'm sorry." He said. "For your roommate."

"It's okay. To be honest I wasn't even thinking about her." She replied.

"Oh. I'm so sorry for bringing her up then."

Rachel laughed again. "It's fine. I promise."

He knew she meant it as he released her from his arms. He pushed a piece of stray hair back behind her hair, smiling to her as she bit her bottom lip.

"Well, i'm going to get changed." He said, pointing behind him to what Rachel could only assume was his bedroom.

"Okay." She said as he turned.

A few minutes later he returned with a pair of old tracksuit pants and a large shirt. "These are for you." He handed them to her. "We can't have you in those wet clothes anymore, can we?"

Rachel shook her head. He pointed towards his bedroom. "You can change in there if you like, i'll just be out here."

She nodded this time, making her way to his room. It was nothing like she expected. She was actually quite impressed. It was fairly tidy, and there was a lovely drum kit in the corner. She changed as fast as she could, and walked back out to find Finn sitting on the couch.

"Where's your roommate?" She asked timidly.

"Uh." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't have one."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I asked for a private room."

"Because of your drum kit?" She asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Yes." He nodded. "Also because of the fact that no one wanted to share a room with me."

"But you're popular." She couldn't stop the words from flowing out of her mouth.

He chuckled. "Not really. Only cause i'm in the football team. None of them are actually my friends."

She looked down.

"I don't have any friends." He said, quietly, as if he was embarrassed.

"Neither do I." Rachel pointed out. "Though i'd consider you to be one of my friends now. After all, you did rescue me from the rain."

He nodded. "Yeah, I did."

It was getting late and Rachel was getting sleepy. Finn noticed her as she yawned for the third time in a row.

"You can sleep in my bed." He said. "I'll sleep here, on the couch."

"Don't be ridiculous Finn. I'm much smaller than you." She said. "I'll be taking the couch."

Rachel could be quite persuasive and that's how Finn ended up in his bed, while Rachel slowly fell asleep on the couch.

* * *

She'd been staying with him for a few weeks. And in that time they'd learned a lot about each other. Finn told Rachel about his passion for music, especially the drums, and that he was taking a music class and that was why she saw him in the theatre area of the school sometimes.

He learned about her dream for Broadway, and that's the reason why she ended up in college, taking more classes than she should. She also told him the full story of her and Santana, not leaving out any of the nasty details.

If they weren't in class they spent all their free time together, usually on his couch, talking with each other or watching a movie. It was pretty obvious that they were falling for each other. This didn't bother Rachel though, Finn was the only true friend she had. And she was pretty sure that she was the only one of his friends who cared for him.

She was surprised when they ended up kissing on his couch one Saturday afternoon. As shocked as she was she didn't push him away, only kissed him more deeply, their tongues intertwining with each other. She fought the urge to rip his shirt off and have her way with him right there on the couch.

She pulled back, resting her head on his shoulder like she always did.

"Rach." He breathed. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

She turned to look at him. Her nose was brushing up against the underside of his chin as she took a deep breath.

"Yes. Yes Finn." She was smiling.

Finn couldn't help but celebrate as his grip tightened on Rachel's waist. She jumped up, kissing him on the mouth again.

* * *

"I was waiting for you to ask that." She said late that night, as they were once again, tangled together on his couch.

"So you always liked me more than you should?" He asked.

"Yeah." He could hear the smile in her voice.

He smiled. "I always liked you more than I should too."

And so they fell into each other again. Pouring more of themselves into the kiss than they did before. They only shared their first kiss earlier that day, but it was already one of Rachel's favourite things to do with Finn. He broke away as he yawned, signalling that he was ready for bed. Glancing at the clock he realised it was after midnight.

"Well Rach, I think i'm going to go to bed."

She sat up. "Okay, i'm tired too, good night Finn." She hugged him this time, playing with the hairs on the back of his neck.

She moved when he got up, sitting herself back down on the couch as Finn walked over to his bedroom door.

"You know." She heard Finn say, turning her attention to him. "You can come if you like."

She didn't need to be asked twice as she jumped over the couch and into his arms again. He slipped into bed, watching her as she flicked the light off. She slowly pulled back the covers and lay on the other side of the bed. She felt Finn's lips kiss her neck before he muttered "goodnight Rach" to her. And as she felt Finn wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her towards him so that they couldn't get any closer, she soon drifted off into the best sleep she'd had in a long time. She knew that this was the happiest she had ever been in her life. And she had Finn to thank for that.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for reading! You know what to do. :)


End file.
